Happy October! I hope you are all having a wonderful fall! Today's Tip Tuesday is all about garage and yard sales! Shopping for your classroom or therapy room can be very pricey! I don't have the extra cash to spend on brand new toys, storage containers, or rugs/furniture. I am given a very strict budget from my district, and I'd rather spend that on testing materials, apps, or other speech therapy specific tools. So, I get my toys from local yard sales and swap shops. I thought I'd share my finds with you, so that if you go, you'll know what to look for!
The first few items below I use for storage. Yard sales are a great place to pick up some containers, boxes, baskets, and other storage items for your therapy room. I am constantly looking for convenient ways to store and categorize my items.
Above are plastic containers that came with a lid and handle. I used these daily when I traveled between schools last year and I loved them! I could easily store lessons, folders, files, or toys in one of these bins and be out the door! Now that I am based in one school, I use them to store my student's folders and other manipulatives.
I found a few smaller baskets that were being sold for 50 cents and thought they would make a cute storage space for my wind-up toys and bubbles. I have 4-5 bottles of bubbles at a time, so keeping them all together is really useful!
I very rarely buy a board game brand new, because there is always such a variety at yard sales. I can get a classic game like Sorry or Candyland for just 75 cents. Normally those games are around 10 or more dollars. Yes, sometimes the pons or dice are missing, but I have so many from other games, I just improvise with that. The kids don't notice or care!
I am a big collector of play people and characters. Sometimes, I can find sets, while other times, I can't. That's OK! My kids love digging through this box of goodies to pick out their favorite character. I literally use this box at least 2 times a day. Some of these characters, especially the Scooby Doo gang, are so motivating for my kiddos. They will do almost anything to earn a chance to play with them! I spent anywhere from 10-75 cents per character!
These both were fantastic good finds! I got the above box full of blocks for $2 and the farm for $1.50 and they are used almost every day in play therapy!
I rarely splurge on books. I find so many at yard sales or swap shops for such a good deal (like 5 for $2). Just make sure to check that no pages are missing!
This was my all-time favorite find! It's a street map rug with all different stops (fire station, police station, ice-cream store, and even a Home Depot!). I got it for $5. I love using this with the kids to target following directions, spatial concepts, and vocabulary! FYI, I did wash this rug and clean all toys before bringing them into my therapy room. It's always a good precaution.
So, that concludes my yard sale haul! I got every item for under $5.
"One mans trash is another man's treasure!" What treasures have you found at a yard sale? Leave your answer or comments below :)
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for next week's Tip Tuesday!
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